Smells and Bells

In Diane Ackerman's description of sound she says that sound is air molecules that move in waves that begin with the movement of any object. These waves enter the outer ear which is like a funnel and vibrates the eardrum, the hammer, anvil and stirrup bones (the tiniest bones in the human body) which press fluid in the inner ear triggering the cochlea hairs which signal nerves. However, there is one misconception present very early on in this explanation. Sound does not simply travel in waves . Instead sound travels in spheres . Scientist John Stewart Reid was the first to officially introduce this new understanding of sound. Here is an excerpt from his writing on the subject: " Sound in air is the transfer of periodic movements between adjacent colliding atoms or molecules. This sonic energy typically expands away from the site of the collisions as a spherical or bubble-shaped emanation, the surface of which is in a state of radial oscillation. The sonic bubble expands ...